TO THE HARBOURMASTER (thanks Frank) 

I am still here, anchored in the bay.…

A LIFE ALPHABET RHYME

A is for apple, shiny and bright

B is for bat, who flies in the night.

C is for cow, munching on hay

D is for dragonfly, hunting its prey.

E is for eggs, snug in the nest

F is for flea, an unwelcome guest

G is for grasshopper, buzzing its call

H is for hedgehog, who rolls in a ball.

I is for iris, a flag in the breeze

J is for jellyfish, floating in seas.

K is for kingfisher, skimming the stream

L is…

Some transparencies of Spring

Some of my hopes have air in them -

Polluting and renewing;

They are inhabited by light breezes and hurricanes

Erratically, like prayer flags

On a Himalayan hillside;

A photon spectrum like daggers and gifts, like galaxies.

My hopes grow quietly after winter chills;

So many bulbs gently budding through cold earth

Trigger my cynical self, as I hold down the…

A mass of granite thrust up

Through the schists and gneiss of lower hills;

Planed down by the ice cap;

Split, shattered and scooped

By frosts, glaciers and the strength of running water.

Its strong flight haunts not precipice, but plateau –

One summer day, your ear catches the plover-like cry –

You pause and watch – no bird is there;

You move softly towards the sound,

And in a moment, one bird, then another,

Rises…

If you don't need me,

as much as I want you,

why do I see my hopes

fluttering

like a hundred prayer flags

on a Himalayan hillside?

Confessions of a Middle Aged Girl

We met at the retreat,  friends at first. 

Casual conversations, weeding organic vegetables.

Occasional weekenders, just friends.

You were slightly younger, tall, dark, attractive

In an ugly way.  Kind words.  Common sense.

Good hugs, but friends, just friends.

Then one weekend it changed:  or I changed.

Friday as usual, Saturday transition,

Sunday I was…

    Gangnam Style Strictly Sonnet

We’re glued to the set every Saturday

To see glamour and glitz, sequins and frills

Athletes, presenters, singer and actors

Strutting and gliding to show off their skills.

Now we know who’ll be going to Blackpool

With the judges and Claudia and Tess

Who’ll be cool?  Who’ll play the fool? Who will rule?

Will their tangos or salsas have finesse?

Craig Revel Horwood is…

Shrugging off the worn leather jacket, he hung it on the chair back, sat down, and comfort stroked his thin white moustache.  Pot of tea.  Tiny jug of milk.  So different to the semi-stewed 6 pence a cuppa tea of the sixties.  Blue Boar inn used to run it.  We thought we were it back then:  guitars, sideburns, drainpipe jeans.   Cold draughty vans, swapping drivers to stay awake.  Polo mints all night.  It wasn’t all bad though -  this was the place, the middle ground, this ‘no man’s…

Grimaldi’s Leap Frog

Characters:

Mrs Sullivan         runs the bar and other facilities

Dolly                    young serving wench

Sam                      sailor

G Burgess             friend of William Heath

It is 13^th February 1812 and Harlequin and Padmanada or The Golden…

Good day to all you spankingly wonderful people of Bowes Park and Bounds Green.  It is such a pleasure to be here with you today.  What ho!  Well, chaps and lady chaps, I am delighted to inform you that in this oncoming by-election, I am standing in this electoral district for the Gross National Interest Party – headed up by our estimable leader, Bertrand Aloiyishious Wooster.  Jolly decent chap.  Great pal of mine.  Spiffing old boy.

Let me make a few things spankingly clear.  In…

BACK TO CAVE            by Andrea Phillips

Go back to your cave

It’s raining fierce, cold

Hard, wet, solid rain…

If you  like sacred music, there is a performance of Elgar's "The Kingdom" with small orchestra and professional soloists plus Barnet Choral augmented (that includes me!) choir on this Saturday 16th March 2013 starting 7.30pm at Queen Elizabeth's School, Queens Road, Barnet, EN5 4DQ.  it is £12 to get in and there will be an interval.  It will be the most fabulous sound.

The Scaffold.  by Andrea Phillips

Guilty. Hang, Draw and Quarter him.

      

      …

Season of chill breezes and blue skies,

When the young sun shines its clear bright rays;

Striving to warm the shadows of last winter’s chill

And call again to rouse the sleeping daffodil;

To swell buds and explode pale young leaves,

Open petals, release scents, for eager bees.

Bursts of blossom bedeck the cherry trees,

Where blue tits dart, and swoop, loop, chase and play;

Busy redbreasts hop by with beaks of grubs

To feed their hungry nestlings…

           Kettle Song    by Petal the Kettle

There’s something I must ask you

If you could be so kind

It’s something that is weighing

Quite heavy on my mind.



It’s something that is simple

And an easy…

                              De Cow is De Enemy by Benjamina Zaccarina

You bin brainwashed you idiot man

‘Drinka Pinta Milka Day’ is crap

An you knowit.

Don’ drink no milk is what I say

An here is reasons forit.

ONE:

De cow, presented forever as de gentle creature

Is de enemy

She chop down deforests for her grazin’ land

An all de creatures who live in dem forests

Dey Die.

No mo’ home, no mo’ food, no mo’ good lovin’

Dey…

I Would Like..... by Andie Phillips

I would like to delve into the wet leaves,

feel their wetness,

slippery rounded oak leaves,

immerse my senses in the smell,

musty and sharp.

I would like to enter the wave as it rolls and crashes,

salty stinging,

stopped breath,

flashing foam bubbling.

I would like to crawl into the earth,

crumbling mulch,

meeting worms,…

I Don’t Believe In Ghosts, But…. By Andie Phillips

I don’t believe…

‘SPIRIT OF THE ORCHARD’, TRING APPLE DAY by Andie Phillips - A short story

She wrote the Mummers…